Saudi Arabia gave White House aides jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in large suitcases, according to Ben Rhodes, former speechwriter and deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration.

In his memoir The World As It Is, published on Tuesday, Rhodes recounts a trip to Saudi Arabia in June 2009 soon after Barack Obama became president.

He says on arrival he and other US officials were taken to housing units in a compound owned by the monarchy in the desert.

“When I opened the door to my unit, I found a large suitcase,” Rhodes recounts. “Inside were jewels.”